Why did Eli Lilly acquire Merida for $2.9 billion in 2026?

Eli Lilly agreed to buy Merida in a $2.9 billion deal to add an immune-focused protein-degradation platform aimed at autoimmune disorders. The article frames it as a platform bet, not just a single-asset pickup, signaling Lilly’s deeper ambition to expand its autoimmune pipeline, with Graves’ disease mentioned in the URL context.